Hi All,
I am having an issue with algae and nutrients. I’ll try to keep this to the point.
I have a 150-gallon bare-bottom SPS system (48x30x22). The tank is 10 months old and is well stocked with fish (lots of tangs and other algae eaters), cuc and coral. The tank has a lot of flow (4xMP40s) and I run the return at 780 GPH. For filtration I run a roller mat, a skimmer and a 40W UV.
I run a CARX and keep my alk at 8, Ca at 460 and MG at 1300 (I’ll bring that up to 1400). The only thing I dose is Lugol’s at 1 drop a day, and the NO3 and PO4 discussed below.
I feed heavy, using a DIY frozen food. I have been having a hard time keeping detectable nutrients. I have been adding reef roids and aminos to the DIY food I make. I am going to make another batch of just fish, scallops, shrimp and clams and see if that makes any difference with the problems described below,
I have been dosing 35 ml of Sodium Nitrate and 120 ml of trisodium phosphate daily via a dos over a 24-hour period. My NO3 is about 20 and I still have hard time keeping my PO4 above 0 (via Hanna Phosphorus ULR). For reference 75ml Sodium Nitrate will raise NO3 in 150 Gallons by .08 ppm and 75 ml of trisodium phosphate will raise PO4 in 150 Gallons by .08. When I don’t dose and/or feed heavy my nutrients drop to 0/0 and my corals become pale.
I have a weird brown fuzzy algae/bacteria the covers my rocks, and has started to out compete the coralline algae on the starboard. This algae/bacteria/other can take on a hair algae like appearance in areas of less disturbance, such as in my overflow. However, it is super wispy and turns to mush if taken out of the aquarium.
I looked at it under a really cheap microscope, and at 100X I can see some dinos, mixed with filaments, which may be cyano, hard to get a good focus. I am waiting to borrow a better scope. For the last 8 days I have been adding 15 mls of H2O2 every 12 hours which has helped a little, maybe 20%.
So, here is my dilemma, do I keep on increasing the amount of PO4 I dose to get a better PO4 reading (.05-.1) and see if it helps? It seems like dosing the PO4 feeds this algae/bacteria which is consuming all of the PO4, and just gets more widespread. Then having no PO4 may have caused of the Dinos. The tank is consuming .1 PO4 per day. However, if I don’t dose (I tried), my corals lose color fast.
I wanted to show a few photos and see what people thought. The stuff will blow off the rocks, but some will stay, even if scrubbed. There are small bubbles that form near the end of the day, but nothing really looks like slime (other than a small amount in one low flow corner under a powerhead) or snot.
I have been dosing for a while, however, this has become much worse over the last month at the same time as it is much more difficult to get PO4 to register.
I took some of the pics with blues and others with whites only to see if it would help with ID, however they still are not the best since they are via a cell phone.
Thanks
Jason
I am having an issue with algae and nutrients. I’ll try to keep this to the point.
I have a 150-gallon bare-bottom SPS system (48x30x22). The tank is 10 months old and is well stocked with fish (lots of tangs and other algae eaters), cuc and coral. The tank has a lot of flow (4xMP40s) and I run the return at 780 GPH. For filtration I run a roller mat, a skimmer and a 40W UV.
I run a CARX and keep my alk at 8, Ca at 460 and MG at 1300 (I’ll bring that up to 1400). The only thing I dose is Lugol’s at 1 drop a day, and the NO3 and PO4 discussed below.
I feed heavy, using a DIY frozen food. I have been having a hard time keeping detectable nutrients. I have been adding reef roids and aminos to the DIY food I make. I am going to make another batch of just fish, scallops, shrimp and clams and see if that makes any difference with the problems described below,
I have been dosing 35 ml of Sodium Nitrate and 120 ml of trisodium phosphate daily via a dos over a 24-hour period. My NO3 is about 20 and I still have hard time keeping my PO4 above 0 (via Hanna Phosphorus ULR). For reference 75ml Sodium Nitrate will raise NO3 in 150 Gallons by .08 ppm and 75 ml of trisodium phosphate will raise PO4 in 150 Gallons by .08. When I don’t dose and/or feed heavy my nutrients drop to 0/0 and my corals become pale.
I have a weird brown fuzzy algae/bacteria the covers my rocks, and has started to out compete the coralline algae on the starboard. This algae/bacteria/other can take on a hair algae like appearance in areas of less disturbance, such as in my overflow. However, it is super wispy and turns to mush if taken out of the aquarium.
I looked at it under a really cheap microscope, and at 100X I can see some dinos, mixed with filaments, which may be cyano, hard to get a good focus. I am waiting to borrow a better scope. For the last 8 days I have been adding 15 mls of H2O2 every 12 hours which has helped a little, maybe 20%.
So, here is my dilemma, do I keep on increasing the amount of PO4 I dose to get a better PO4 reading (.05-.1) and see if it helps? It seems like dosing the PO4 feeds this algae/bacteria which is consuming all of the PO4, and just gets more widespread. Then having no PO4 may have caused of the Dinos. The tank is consuming .1 PO4 per day. However, if I don’t dose (I tried), my corals lose color fast.
I wanted to show a few photos and see what people thought. The stuff will blow off the rocks, but some will stay, even if scrubbed. There are small bubbles that form near the end of the day, but nothing really looks like slime (other than a small amount in one low flow corner under a powerhead) or snot.
I have been dosing for a while, however, this has become much worse over the last month at the same time as it is much more difficult to get PO4 to register.
I took some of the pics with blues and others with whites only to see if it would help with ID, however they still are not the best since they are via a cell phone.
Thanks
Jason